ziplining vagabonds

1554/2184 miles done {71%}

For a while after our bed and breakfast stop, I was good. I think 10 days without a zero (a whole day with no hiking) is my breakdown point. This point is usually demonstrated by crying, walking slow, complaining, begging Tony for a motel, etc.

It's not always like that though. Let's summarize the past few days:

We saw McAfee Knob, the over 3,197 foot, most frequently photographed site on the AT. We woke up before sunrise {if you know me at all you know that is a rarity} to get to the viewpoint as the sun came up. The widely popular picture of Tony in his not so modest outerwear was taken there. McAfee Knob at sunrise was majestic, beautiful, and worth every second.

We had a couple close encounters with the native Virginians. We got a ride from a "retired" military policeman who was dressed in full camo and had at least 3 pairs of handcuffs in his car.....He dropped us off at Burger King with the warning that the "locals" didn't like "strangers."
At Burger King---
Me: I'll just have a ham, egg, and cheese croissant.
Unsightly worker: Country ham or black forest ham? The LOCALS eat country ham, but you probably are talking about the other.
Me: Whatever you want to use is fine.
Worker: (mouthing to the cook with a disgusted look) Black forest ham.
I ordered the food as dine-in and he gave it to me in a to-go bag. We ignored that not so subtle cue to leave immediately. Our ride back to the trail gave me a religious tract on how to be saved...

We met a sweet boy from Florida who is a senior in high school. He was out for 100 miles completely by himself. So brave! We hiked with him for about 4 days, and it helped to pass the time.

Since it is getting dark so early, we have been walking after dark a good amount. One particular night, we were
on our 21st mile at 9oclock when we came across a cow pasture filled with lots of little eyes looking at us. Tony beat his sticks to scatter them off the trail and one of the "cows" started snorting and pawing the ground and heading towards him. Needless to say we got out of that big guy's way pretty quick.

So back to the breakdown. I was crying away just so sad to be on the trail on Thanksgiving. Tony started flipping through the book for a way out. We called an old man who charged us $31 to take us to a motel
in Pearisburg, VA.

On the motel office door, we saw a paper advertising a community Thanksgiving dinner at the local church! I called the lady and she said to walk on over! We were so excited
that these people liked strangers! All of a sudden, another old man pulls up in a van and offers to take us to the church! Are we lucky or what? The dinner was true southern church pot luck style complete with deviled eggs! Who cares if they thought we were vagabonds?

The next day, my mom pulled up (yes, I realize crying inconsolably a day before might have been a touch dramatic. Don't judge me!) and whisked us away to a night with our family! Amanda and Jason, Cynthia, Laurie and Paavo, Mommy, Rhonda, and Grandma! So good to see everyone and recharge 2 nights.

Amanda and Jason dropped us back off on the trail to a windy sub 30 degree afternoon. Before we got to
our final destination 14 miles down the road, our water and gatorade in our packs were frozen. But don't worry,
we stayed at the "Captain's" (who we never laid eyes on). To get to
his screened in porch complete with a mini fridge filled with cokes and a working sauna, we had to zipline. Across a creek. With our packs. In the dark. On a cable that may or may not be safe. Tony went first. When we woke up the next morning, the thermometer read 22 degrees. We ate breakfast in the sauna.

Tonight we are back in Pearisburg. The lady at the motel gave us our same room back.

We did 20 miles to get here and are grateful to be inside! And we are breakdown free for at least another week!

Thank you Edgeworths for the care package!

And a BIG congratulations to our friend Daisy for completing the trail this week!!!! We are so excited for her and slightly jealous of course!

Guest post from Mr. McKay himself on the way. Stay tuned.

Talk to y'all soon. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

bed and breakfast

notable (good and bad) events of the past week:

Mommy and Laurie came to visit! (We were so happy to see non strangers!) We got to stay at a super nice hotel, eat homemade granola, and watch Big Bang Theory!

Finished the Shenandoah mountain range! The snow did not defeat us! About 60% of the time we were walking through 3-12 inches of it. However, the trail was a series
of great switchbacks, and we were so happy to get our views back!

We lucked out on a hitch hike and got picked up by Mr. Harry who let us stay at his house 3 nights in a row! He also slack packed us 2 days! His wife made us 3 dinners and 3 breakfasts! Above and beyond trail angels!

I dropped our guidebook into a privy (ie outhouse, wooden port a john). Tony was not excited about fetching it for us. Luckily most of the contents of the said privy were frozen.
THEN we left it at a Mexican restaurant. When we went back to retrieve it, I deferred telling the manager thumbing through it that it had recently been in a primitive toilet.

Also, sadly, a couple of our friends got off the trail. Reasons cited: cold, feeling guilty about spending mama's money, snow, being over it....

Our sweet friend Mark went down to Hot Springs, NC to hike from there. We were so sad to separate from him, and his departure prompted outbursts of "I Miss My Homies" from Tony. See you March 9th brother!

We celebrated our 17 month marriage anniversary and our 4 months of marriage to the AT today!

Anyways, we are 62% complete with our journey! 801 miles to go! 1383 complete.

Tony is already discussing his next adventure...

Love all y'all! Miss everyone!

****Hope to see you soon Stetson!***

Betsy--the toe-warmers have been a huge hit!

shenandoah

a girl stopped me yesterday and asked if i was a thru hiker. when I said yes, she questioned me about how much my pack weighed, what kind of shoes I was wearing, when we started, etc.

then she asked if I would do it again if I had the chance. I had to be honest with her. I told her that today (yesterday) I would say no. I was tired, bored, annoyed, overwhelmed, freezing, hungry, thirsty,my feet hurt, my legs were tired, and I still had 10 more miles to go before I could stop.

then, I told her, if you ask me tomorrow, I will feel better, my legs will feel good, and I will be strong again.

the trail, like life, changes from day to day. one minute you can be tired
and overwhelmed by any and everything and then the next day, the sun is shining and things are ok. things are always ok. and the bad doesn't last forever.

the shenandoah mountains are beautiful, by the way. and so was the snow that we walked in for miles and miles.

the woman that took us to a hotel, a Mexican restaurant, and will take us to Walmart and back to the trail...now that's a whole different kind of beautiful.

56% complete.